A Bannu anti-terrorism court on Tuesday rejected the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) plea seeking an extension in the physical remand of MNAs Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar in a case pertaining to an improvised explosive device (IED) attack targeting security forces near a checkpoint in North Waziristan’s Kharqamar area.

On the evening of June 7, an IED planted near a security checkpoint in Kharqamar went off, martyring three officers and a soldier. Four security personnel sustained injuries in the attack.

The same day, the CTD Bannu nominated the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement-affiliated MNAs in a first information report registered against the attack on the complaint of the North Waziristan district police officer.

Both Wazir and Dawar were already in CTD custody at the time of the IED blast ? they had been arrested last month following the May 26 Kharqamar checkpoint attack. Wazir had been taken into custody on the day of the attack, while Dawar surrendered a few days later.

The ATC judge sent both the MNAs to jail on judicial remand after the six-day physical remand obtained by the CTD on June 19 expired on Tuesday.

The MNAs maintained in court that they had been in jail when the June 7 IED blast happened and they were not involved in the attack.